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DECORATIVE
NEEDLEWORK,
MAY MORRIS
LONDON :
JOSEPH HUGHES & CO,
PILGRIM STREET, LUDGATE HILL, LONDON, E.G.
1893.
\_All rights reserved^
I'KINTED BY
W. P. GRIFFITH & SONS, LIMITKD,
TKUJEAN SQUAHE, OLD IIMLEV,
LONDON, E.G.
DEDICATORY NOTE.
THESE pages are written for and dedi-
cated to those who, without much previous
knowledge of the art of embroidery, have
a love for it and a wish to devote a little
time and patience to its practice. The
Vx^,^!,!,^*. A^^n ., .. — ~C !_ i
DECORATIVE NEEDLEWORK,
BY
MAY MORRIS,
Edition de Luxe, consisting of 1 25 copies only,
of which this copy is No ._..<2.
oi all other brancfies ot art, and tftat no
one of these elements can the embroideress
neglect or overlook if her work is to have
life and meaning. If she pursues her craft
with due care, and one might even say
with enthusiasm, however, she will not
2040f)71
PRINTED BY
DEDICATORY NOTE.
THESE pages are written for and dedi-
cated to those who, without much previous
knowledge of the art of embroidery, have
a love for it and a wish to devote a little
time and patience to its practice. The
booklet does not profess in any way to be
exhaustive, but should be useful as a key-
note to further study, having been written
from practical knowledge of the subject.
I have tried to show that executive skill
and the desire of and feeling for beauty,
realized in a work of definite utility, are
the vital and essential elements of this as
of all other branches of art, and that no
one of these elements can the embroideress
neglect or overlook if her work is to have
life and meaning. If she pursues her craft
with due care, and one might even say
with enthusiasm, however, she will not
2040071
Dedicatory Note.
only taste that keen pleasure which every
one feels in creative work, however unpre-
tending, but the product will be such as
others will be careful to preserve : this in
itself being an incentive to good work.
For work done at the demand of fashion
or caprice and that done inevitably, that is,
for its own sake, are as widely dissimilar
as can be : the first being discarded in a
month or so as ridiculous and out of date,
and the other remaining with us in all its
dignity of beauty and fitness, to be guarded
as long as may be against the unavoidable
wear and tear of time.
MAY MORRIS.
DECORATIVE NEEDLEWORK.
CHAPTER I.
HISTORICAL GLANCE.
IT is only of recent years that the art
of needlework has come to be divided
by a hard and fast line into plain
sewing and. embroidery. The two branches
of the art are to my mind, and indeed used
to be in practice, so nearly akin that the
one merges into the other, and it is surely
equally desirable to teach both. For it
has become inevitable now-a-days to set
about leaching this art as well as many
another more important ; the training for-
merly obtained by patient practice and
watching a good method of work in a studio
or ' workshop ' (as they did not mind calling
it then) being beyond the reach of most
young people in these days, when appren-
ticeship is confined to mechanical trades,
B £
Decorative Needlework.
and is almost entirely discarded by artists.
In past times it was natural and instinctive
to decorate one's stitchery ; a seam or hem
would have some little touches of the needle
beyond the mere piecing together or turn-
ing in of raw edges : from this stage grew
the enrichment of hanging or robe for
avowedly decorative purposes, but it should
be noted that all the decoration had mean-
ing in its beauty. I will not stop here to
consider this phrase, which will be referred
to later on in discussing the suitability of
embroidery to various objects. Well, now-
a-days, almost the only article of stitchery
in which the two branches of the art,
namely, plain sewing and embroidery, are
wedded, is in the body-linen of a very fine
lady, who loves to accumulate dainty linen
round her, fine as gossamer, wrought by
what under-paid work-girl she does not
know or care. The following lines from a
popular fashion-paper describe with unction
the beauties of such garments : ' The
night-gowns are remarkable for their ex-
2
Decorative Needlework.
quisite work, the dotting all hand-wrought,
the tiny a jour veining appearing between
the pleats ' . . . and so forth ad nauseam.
But the hurry of modern life and the
advent of cheap machine-work have, be-
tween them, done away with any leisurely
decorating of garments except for the very
rich ; and, as aforesaid, plain-sewing is
taught apart from decorative embroidery.
The instinctive desire of man to ornament
whatever article he makes with his own
hand, to place his mark upon his handi-
work, leads him to decorate his clothes and
other possessions as soon as his primitive
wants are assured, and he leaves the first
stage of almost unreasoning savagedom.
The early Eastern civilisations availed
themselves abundantly of this art, and their
chronicles record many instances of the
skill of Babylonian and Egyptian workers,
and of the beauty and costliness of em-
broidered stuffs made in those countries.
Egyptian textiles and needlework were
eagerly sought after by other peoples,
Decorative Needlework.
especially by the Jews and Tyrians. The
great merchant-city of Tyre, capital of
Phoenicia, ' the renowned city strong in
the sea/ was indeed a centre of all the
arts, whither treasures and produce of all
sorts poured in from every imaginable
land. She is threatened with destruction
in the height of her prosperity by the
prophet Ezekiel, who describes graphically
her trade development, and the perfection
to which it is brought. With that versa-
tility of a travelled people which made them
their renown, the Tyrians assimilated the
arts borrowed from Egypt and Babylon,
and, among others, the art of embroidery,
which was much in demand, being most
rich and beautiful, we are told. I must
refer, too, to that already often-quoted
passage in Exodus about the building of
the temple ; where the Jewish tribes doubt-
less placed, as an offering to their Jehovah,
all the precious things they had brought
away from that wonderful land, wise in all
the arts of life, where they had lived so
4
Decorative Needlework.
long. Among these treasures there are
beautiful embroideries and cloths of gold,
either brought with them or fashioned by
themselves through their acquired know-
ledge ; rich hangings for the tabernacle, a
veil for the ark, and robes for the high
priest, all wrought with the splendour of
colour and wealth of work which Eastern
nations still cling to.
Greece and Rome, too, made abundant
use of needlework, and hundreds of quota-
tions bearing on the subject could be
made from their authors were it within the
scope of these pages. But between the
poetry of the ancient, and, frankly speaking,
conjectural art, and the tangible reality of
the mediaeval, classical times lose their
interest to a certain extent, and one is glad
to turn to a period of that art which repays
all thought and search and fills one with
joy, to the art of the middle ages, namely,
the XII. to XIV. centuries, where every-
thing is instinct with life and originality in
the handiwork of man. From these times
Decorative Needlework.
(say from the XIV. century until now), the
progression is also downwards, with refer-
ence to this art at least ; and though for a
long, long while later professional skill is
so well-rooted as to become greenly tradi-
tional, design and invention are less
markedly beautiful, and the early simplicity
slowly gives place to a luxuriance and
lavishness that marks the beginning of all
decay.
For any one anxious to follow up this
line of study in detail, it can be done to a
certain extent by merely walking through
our South Kensington Museum, to go no
further, carefully noting and comparing
the fine examples of early work displayed
there. The great Syon cope is in itself
a master-piece of design and workmanship,
and is worked in a peculiar manner, to
which I may have occasion to refer in
speaking of methods of work. This cope
is an often-quoted example, whose history
in brief is that it was given by Henry V.
to a convent at Isleworth at about the year
6
Decorative Needlework.
1414, though a piece of XIII. century
work. The nuns of Syon led a wandering
life, and, in Elizabeth's reign, travelling
far and wide, finally reached Portugal,
where they settled themselves. It is not
long since that this their great treasure
came back from Lisbon to England, to be
wondered at in a dusky corner behind a
glass case in a great museum.
It will be noticed that most of the fine
early embroideries preserved to us are
ecclesiastical, but it is not to be inferred
from this that the houses and clothes of our
forefathers were as bare of such decoration
as our own. They naturally lavished their
most costly and effective work on the
buildings and vestments dedicated to their
religion, but did not themselves, therefore,
go without rich ornament. There are
existing certain inventories and descrip-
tions of the hangings of hall and bower,
cushion coverings and so forth, that give
us a delightful glimpse into the interior of
a well-to-do house of the middle ages, and
7
Decorative Needlework.
of later times also. Loom tapestry was of
course often employed for such things, but
being essentially laborious and therefore
costly, worsted or linen hangings, rather
roughly worked, often took its place, and
in old inventories we often see such work
minutely described. Very gay and plea-
sant an old hall must have looked on a
festival day (and holidays were very many
and more generally kept in those days),
the rough stone walls hidden nearly roof-
high by the warm coloured folds of stuff
embroidered with fair roses, or 'portrayed
full of woodland trees,' with perhaps a
bordering of scrolls and shields with the
possessor's device displayed upon them.
Window seats and chairs would be fitted
with embroidered cushions, screens and
settles hung with gay cloths, and even the
' napery ' or table-linen would not escape
the busily plied needle.
As aforesaid, later work gradually degen-
erates ; even the splendour of embroidered
apparel at the French and English courts
8
Decorative Needlework.
under Henry II. and Francis I. and Henry
VIII., respectively, verges perilously upon
the vulgar in its extravagance. Coats and
robes are loaded with work and jewels
wherever it is possible to display either,
until the unlucky bearers of these stiffly
built-up garments look ridiculous far more
than magnificent. Very handsome work
is, of course, often to be met with at this
time, but the tendency, on the whole, is
towards display and grandeur, and leaves
far distant the repose and gravity of the
best times. Thence our glance travels
onward until it comes to actual ugliness and
vulgarity in the latter half of the XVIII.
century — 'the great century/ as people
were fond of calling it. But though the
rich and important work is displeasing, we
find a great deal of modest art that is
delightful ; flowery cloths and aprons
worked by ladies at their leisure, or great
bed-quilts and hangings, ingenuous and
simple as regards design, but really prettily
coloured, and stitched with some art.
9
Decorative Needlework.
So much for a brief glance at the growth
of decorative needlework. It may seem at
first sight unnecessary, but indeed could not
be dispensed with. Even the slight guid-
ance thus afforded as to the periods wherein
to look for the best style, in order to study
it, is a great help to the student while taste
is being formed. Moreover, I find that in
most people's minds there exists great con-
fusion as to what is definitely the best work
artistically. Few go back beyond the
queer jumble of traditional design of the
early XVIII. century, or the handsome
florid renaissance styles of the XVI. and
XVII. centuries, to the simple dignity and
graciousness of mediaeval work. It is here,
to the Middle Ages, I repeat, the student
must go for example and inspiration towards
serious work : modern embroidery does not
compare favourably with that of any period,
but it is the very antithesis to the early
art, and it is indeed time that something
was done to raise it to a higher level.
10
Decorative Needlework.
CHAPTER II.
•
EMBROIDERY STITCHES.
CIIAIN-STITCII, &c.
THE foregoing slight sketch of the
history of embroidery will give
some idea of what can be done and
what has been done with the needle alone,
or with the needle and a few tools of the
simplest description. There are two sides
to the art of embroidery. It may be con-
sidered as a pictorial art in which the
material used serves merely as a surface or
ground to be entirely covered with work,
like the canvas of a picture. It may also
be considered as a decorative art by means
of which a woven stuff is ornamented with
borders and designs more or less elaborate,
but the textile used not playing so entirely
1 1
Decorative Needlework.
subordinate a part as in the former case.
The more important and pictorial side is
usually left in the hands of professional
workers of experience and skill, but the
decorative and more popular work is quite
within the scope of amateurs, and is indeed
often more beautiful as mere ornament,
though its intellectual value may not be so
great.
Embroidery can be worked loose in the
hand, or stretched in a simple frame, the
stitches for the two methods sometimes
varying. Fine and elaborate work, espe-
cially where gold thread is used and much
moulding or relief required, should always
be put in a frame, a smooth and evenly
tight surface being very necessary to this
class of work, as well as greater freedom of
hand. Some stitches, on the other hand,
are only suitable for work done loose in the
hand, such as chain-stitch (when done with
a simple needle) and several other looped
stitches, also darning, stitching, and so
forth.
12
Decorative Needlework.
Before setting to work, the learner has a
few technicalities to master, and in the
course of her work will encounter many
difficulties, to be gradually overcome by
practice and carefully corrected errors.
For instance, there are certain definite
stitches or sets of stitches to be learnt.
These are learnt far more easily by word
of mouth than by book, of course, and it
will not be found advisable to burthen the
memory at the outset with a long list of
apparently fantastic names of stitches. To
take them easily and quietly, I will devote
a few pages to chain and other ' looped '
stitches, and the various purposes to which
they have been and may be put.
Chain-stitch has been so called because
it imitates, more or less, the links of a
simple chain. It is the foremost and most
familiar of all similar stitches. It has a
very definite character of its own, and
though apt to become a little monotonous,
is from its laborious and enduring nature
well suited to work that may be subjected
'3
Decorative Needlework.
to much wear and tear. In the accom-
panying diagram it will be seen that each
little loop grows out of the last ; the needle
Fig. i. — CHAIN STITCH.
follows the exact direction in which the line
of stitches is to lie. Some of the most
14
Decorative Needlework.
famous work in the world has been wrought
in this stitch, and many important pieces
remain to show us what can be done in the
way of minute and laborious work com-
bined with good design and beautiful
colour.
The best way of using chain-stitch when
the design is required to be filled with solid
Fig. 2.
Decorative Needlework.
work is to start round the outline and
work from without inwards, the result when
finished being a series of curved lines,
as indicated by the dotted lines in the
diagram.
A good look at a piece of Eastern chain-
stitch embroidery will teach more than any
descriptive writing ; and, supposing that you
have such a piece before you, in the show-
case of a museum, or, better still, in your
own hands for closer inspection, you will
note with what certainty and regularity the
little flowers are worked, and how suitable
this stitch is for long stems and lines. A
great deal of the Eastern work on fine
muslin that we see in such abundance in
all shops now, is worked in some- kind of
tambour-frame ; that is, worked on a rather
open stuff stretched tight, the thread being
passed through and back with a hook or
tambour-needle. It is not difficult to tell
this work from the slower needle chain-
stitch, as the former has a certain unmis-
takeable evenness and flatness, which the
16
Decorative Needlework.
other has not. The great cope of Syon
that I have referred to already, is princi-
pally worked in chain-stitch, but worked
with the most inconceivable minuteness,
and here and there displaying a daring and
originality never ventured on now-a-days.
The little figures of saints and angels, for
instance, have the faces worked in a pecu-
liar manner, starting from the high light
on the cheek-bone, and thence round and
round outwards from this point to nose,
chin, and throat, the features being outlined
with a fine dark thread. This method of
using chain-stitch for figure-work requires
to be seen to be understood, and I would
not recommend a student to attempt to
apply it to her own work, as it is not
adaptable to any modern style, and needs
both the verve and simplicity of mediaeval
design to carry it off.
I have in my mind, too, as an example
of chain-stitch, certain work done in India
in the XVI. and XVII. centuries for Euro-
pean buyers. It is very different in style
c 17
Decorative Needlework.
and character, and has not, as it were, the
intellectual qualities of the ecclesiastical
work spoken of above. It usually consists of
large hangings and quilts for beds of state,
worked on a fine cotton ground entirely in
chain-stitch of one colour. Very rich and
effective does this work look in a brilliant
yellow with an irregularly stitched back-
ground pattern also in yellow. These
hangings and bed-coverings were ordered
for state gifts or marriage gifts, the centres
being sometimes occupied by the arms and
device of the prince or lord for whom they
were intended, elaborately interwoven with
the design.
Of other stitches looped on the surface
we have button-hole stitch, sometimes pret-
tily used for the outlining of flowers and
leaves. This stitch does not allow of much
variety, and being rather hard and unpli-
able, looks best in combination with other
stitches. The same may be said of different
lace stitches, which look well in moderation,
and add variety to the work, but, having a
18
Decorative Needlework.
rather mechanical surface, are a little weari-
some if too much used.
Fig. 3. — BUTTON-HOLE STITCH.
Feather-stitch, familiar to the seamstress,
19
Decorative Needlework.
is sometimes used for edgings and borders,
and sometimes as a light filling of stems.
Fig. 4. — FEATHER STITCH.
It bears no resemblance to the ' feather
stitch ' of the old writers, which is another
thing altogether. The diagram will, I
should think, sufficiently explain its nature.
20
Decorative Needlework.
Knotting or French Knot consists of
several loops taken round the needle and
secured by a stitch. This is effective for
thick raised work, for the filling of flower
Fig. 5. — KNOTTING.
centres and so forth, but is also seen in
flat embroidery, such as some of the old
Chinese work, which is sometimes com-
21
Decorative Needlework.
posed entirely of very fine knots in
different shades of silk. It is also seen
used with comical effect in certain late
English work, for hair, for trees, or sheep's
fleece, or anything, in short, in which the
embroideress thought a highly broken or
granulated surface would help out her
descriptive effects. Such ' effects,' however,
are, to my thinking, in bad taste and out
of place in embroidery ; where, even in the
pictorial side of the art, natural objects
should be interpreted by bold and skilful
drawing, and no attempt at faithful copying
be made.
Satin-stitch can be done in the hand or
in a frame. It consists of stitches evenly
laid in one direction, the needle passing
under and over the space to be covered,
back and front being similar. In the dia-
gram the stitches are shown laid far apart
for the sake of clearness, but in reality they
lie close together forming a smooth surface.
This stitch can be worked flat and simply
in fine twisted silk or linen thread, or as
22
Decorative Needlework.
the Chinese and Japanese employ it, in
floss silk finely divided, and with any of
Fig. 6. — SATIN STITCH.
these materials makes very dainty decora-
tion. You will have seen somewhere,
23
Decorative Needlework.
doubtless, work of this description on
some treasured antique garment, a great-
great-grandmother's v/edding gown, or a
gorgeous satin waistcoat of preposterous
length, worn in times when dress was stiff
and gaudy rather than tasteful, though
picturesque for all that. On such gar-
ments you may see little flowered borders
worked with the utmost refinement and
patience in chain or satin stitch, the finest
imaginable twisted silk being used, the
colours even now both bright and delicate,
and chosen of the gayest and most fanciful
combinations. Look well at such work
when it next comes across your path, and
you will see what time, patience and skill
can do. To my thinking, satin-stitch is
rather clumsy when worked with thick
silk or wool. It is obvious that the space
to be covered by the needle must not be
very broad, for then the characteristic
compact and close surface is lost, and the
stitches lie loosely in untidy loops ; it will
be found inexpedient and awkward to work
24
Decorative Needlework.
in short stitches with thick materials, hence
it is best to leave this stitch for the finer
sorts of work. Another and an effective
method of using the stitch consists in first
embossing or ' stuffing ' the form to be
covered, which is done by laying threads
of coarse cotton or linen thread backwards
and forwards and fastening them down ;
and when raised so that the required relief
is obtained, the satin-stitch is worked over,
at right angles to the direction of the
layers of stuffing. For any articles that
are expected to receive hard wear this is
an excellent and enduring method of work ;
but as it is inclined to have a hard and
mechanical look (particularly if it is very
smoothly done), the relief should be mostly
rather flat and low. What I describe here
is a comparatively simple form of relief;
but presently, in discussing more compli-
cated stitches, I shall have to show that
modelling can be elaborated to a very
great degree.
Stem-stitch is so simple that it almost
25
Decorative Needlework.
explains itself by diagram. One stitch is
laid beyond another in a continuous line,
Fig. 7. — STEM STITCH.
which should be smooth and even, the
thread being always kept on the same side
of the needle. This is essentially adapted
to work done in the hand ; it is useful for
filling stems and putting in outlines.
Darning can be variously treated, the
principle of the stitch being given in Fig.
8, where the threads are shown lair] in
horizontal lines, (a] The needle is run in
26
Decorative Needlework.
and out of the material, following the
threads of it, sometimes both right and
wrong side alike, and, indeed, resembling
Fig. 8. — DARNING.
the woven stuff. It is used in this way
on many of the Eastern embroidered
towels that are so much used now. So
treated, the stitch has little artistic value
in itself, for the same decoration could be
obtained with weaving ; it is merely a
substitute for weaving used for the decora-
tion of their cloths and towels by people
27
Decorative Needlework.
who might not care to set up a loom for so
slight a purpose.
(b) Another form of darning is, on the
Fig. 9.
contrary, rather elaborate, and involves
artistic knowledge in drawing lines and in
28
Decorative Needlework.
shading colours. The needle follows the
curves and forms of the design, the full
stitch only showing on the upper surface
of the material. When the design that is
being worked is, as is usual, some treat-
ment of flowers and other natural growths,
the stitches also radiate outward from a
common centre (see Fig. 9). The begin-
ner will encounter several difficulties from
the outset, and much more can be learnt
by a few hours of personal instruction than
by many pages of careful description.
When a mass of one colour merely is
required, the task is fairly easy, great
attention being paid to laying the threads
in even lines from centre to edge of the
leaf or flower. The stitch, however, is
particularly suitable to shading and
blending several colours, a skilful worker
obtaining both delicacy and variety from
this facility.
But here is our first pause : for this
very facility of shading with the needle
constitutes in itself a pitfall to the unwary.
29
Decorative Needlework.
It is so tempting to form nice little leaves
and flower-petals, all painted up in ' natural '
colours almost as good as a picture. But
try it. Take a flower on its stem, or spray
of leaves, use twenty or thirty different
shades of colour to a square foot of work,
each leaf executed with its browns, and
pinks, and greens, with high light, and
lights diffused and reflected, all dragged in
by main force, till a libellous caricature of
natural growth is achieved ; a caricature
having less resemblance to the real thing
than the fearless images with a blunt pencil
done by a child, whose drawings are symbols
of what his eyes see, and have a value all
their own as a natural and unaffected ex-
pression of natural facts. Then work the
same spray in flat and simple colours, say
in two shades at most for a leaf, either one
side of the leaf light and the other dark,
or both sides shaded up from dark to light
colour ; flower-petals treated in the same
way with very light shading, and with a
firm outline to render the pattern clear.
30
Decorative Needlework.
Compare the two methods of work, and a
little thought will show you that even to an
untrained eye, the latter way of working
has a more pleasing look than the former,
which is a laborious, pretentious effort to
imitate nature in her own colours. A broad
and simple style of work should be practised
for a long time, and until you have thorough
command over colour and composition, and
a very sure and definite experience of the
value of harmony and contrast and such-like
technicalities akin to the painter's art.
Darning, then, is worked in the hand on
some loose soft material, and the more
yielding the fabric, the quicker the work
goes, if that be an advantage. It is not a
method of work that will last for ever, the
threads all lying on the surface, rather long
and loose. Thus it is not suitable for
ornamenting surfaces that receive much
friction, nor for anything that is easily soiled
and has to be constantly refreshed or
cleaned. It is a good method for quickly
and economically covering large surfaces,
31
Decorative Needlework.
but unsuited to important works that are
to be durable as well as beautiful.
Another look at Fig. 9, which represents
a stem and leaf filled in with work, will
show roughly the direction in which the
stitches ought to lie. It is absolutely
necessary to pay strict attention to this, for
correct laying of stitches is one of the first
principles of embroidery, and of every sort
of needlework, plain or ornamental. The
slight radiation of the lines in the leaf
falling outwards from a centre should also
be noticed. In filling solidly an ornamental
form of any breadth, the beginner who
ponders over her work will consider how
her threads shall be laid so as to fill the
space harmoniously, giving at the same
time an even texture. She will soon find
that the only way to do this is to work from
a centre, whence the stitches fall right and
left, joining imperceptibly at the top (see
Fig. 10), such designs as the embroideress
makes use of almost always lending them-
selves to and suggesting such treatment.
32
Decorative Needlework.
These observations apply equally, of
course, to all stitches used for filling solid
masses.
The stitches enumerated above are by
their nature adapted to soft and supple
!•
.
JO.
materials that hang in folds if the size and
purpose of the work permit. They are
also more suitably done on a material held
loose in the hand than stretched in a frame.
Those that I shall describe next are stiffer
in character, and best done in an embroi-
D 33
Decorative Needlework.
dery frame ; with some stitches, indeed, one
wants both hands at liberty to manipulate
the materials, this not being possible when
one hand has to be devoted to holding the
work.
34
Decorative Needlework.
CHAPTER III.
TAPESTRY, LONG-AND-SHORT AND
FEATHER STITCHES.
THESE names are somewhat vague,
the stitches being merely varieties
of the same, but I quote them
as the student will constantly hear them
spoken of, or come across them in de-
scriptions of old work. Tapestry-stitch,
in effect, bears a slight resemblance to
woven tapestry (hence its name, I sup-
pose). We must not, however, fall into
the common error of calling the
art of decorative needlework ' tapestry ' ;
tapestry is a definite technical term for a
textile wrought in a loom in a special
manner ; and a very ancient art it is too,
and a most interesting one.
35
Decorative Needlework.
This stitch is, like darning, used for
filling-in broad spaces; but, unlike darning,
it is solid back and front (though not iden-
tical), and instead of being rather frail and
loose, is close and extremely durable. The
Fig. n
Decorative Needlework.
worker aims at laying the stitches upright
in rows (see Fig. 1 1), and when one row is
done the next is laid with the stitches fitting
close into those of the last row. This
forms a laborious building-up of surface,
simple enough where only a little shading
or gradation of colour is wanted. Such a
method of work was formerly, and is still,
a very favourite one for embroidering
figures, and here it becomes difficult as well
as laborious.
A faithful study of ancient figure-work,
however (and early artists excelled in this
branch of the art), will show that the
mediaeval needleworker depended greatly
on his design, and that he displayed his
skill every bit as much in leaving out as in
putting in. We find drapery depicted by
harmoniously flowing, strongly-marked
lines enclosing broad masses of colour ;
flesh-tints, which are almost too beautiful
and varied for a great painter to reproduce,
are frankly and gracefully given up, and
our needle artist gives us instead, well-
37
Decorative Needlework.
marked features outlined with a brown or
black line, the flesh itself being executed
in a sort of monochrome in pinky-brown,
with a very little brown shading used where
absolutely necessary to mark the expres-
sion. Hair, also, is frankly convention-
alised, and yet the warm masses and sunlit
ringlets of nature are pleasantly interpreted
by noble and simple lines and one or two
gleams of bright colour. The very simpli-
city and harmony of such a design give
what can never be attained by ill-advised
attempts at needle-painting with a hundred
different colours, an image of beauty,
namely, not marred in the interpretation.
It is an. old story — this wisdom of the true
artist in thoroughly understanding the
capabilities of his materials and tools, and
asking no more of his art than it can easily
and truthfully give.
It is as well to put down here what I
want to say somewhere in these pages with
regard to early figure-design : those who
are not familiar with the early form of art
38
Decorative Needlework.
are apt to laugh at what they consider the
childish simplicity with which men and
women were portrayed ; and, if they are
accustomed to ponder over what their eyes
see, they will wonder the more, comparing
this rude drawing of the figure with the
grace and delicacy with which rose and
vine tendril, or any such natural growth
were drawn.
It is only when the eye becomes accus-
tomed to look for certain qualities in certain
arts (not expecting, for instance, to find in
an embroidered face transparency of tone
or warm depths and shadows as in a picture)
that it accepts and appreciates those same
qualities, and rejects work that looks more
' real ' because it is full of over-confident
attempts to realise what is beyond its
limited power.
This may sound pedantic ; and the student
may say that he objects on principle, and
as a thinking individual living in the holy
nineteenth century, to accepting an oblong
with a dot in the middle of it as a drawing
39 '
Decorative Needlework.
of an eye in any art, except that of the
child and mud-pie period. He may be
right so far as regards modern work —
though even here I am not sure ; for, as
aforesaid, simplicity is one of the first
principles of this art. But, although the
mediaeval artist's conception of the human
figure, characteristic of early times and early
beliefs, would certainly be out of keeping
with the temper of latter-day design, I
still hope that the simplicity and wonderful
power of expression of such work will
appeal to many, and that few students will
turn aside from a genuine admiration of
what is admirable herein to jeer at any
archaism in feature-drawing. It is one of
the great and serious defects of modern
criticism in art, not to accept the good faith
and beliefs of the period under observation,
but to subject every work of past times to
a modern test of excellence, which is in
itself too often defective.
I have not forgotten that we are con-
sidering a certain group of stitches, the
40
Decorative Needlework.
first of which is peculiarly adapted for
hangings and panels of a lasting nature,
into which figures may be beautifully and
effectively introduced. Long -and- short
stitch and feather-stitch are merely variants
Fig.
12.
of the same. A glance at the diagram will
show that the former is well adapted to
filling a broad space, starting from the out-
Decorative Needlework.
line, the stitches radiating slightly from a
centre. Another row within this may be
added of a different shade, but for the sake
of clearness it is not shown here.
In Fig. 13 feather-stitch is shown, the
stitches starting from the centre and work-
ing outwards. This form of the stitch is
constantly employed in old English work
of the Jacobean period, and later on into
Fig. IS-
the early eighteenth century. The stitches
are built up from a centre line or stem, in
close and compact rows, different gradations
of colour being used where needed. These
42
Decorative Needlework.
slightly varying methods of employing the
long-and-short stitches produce extremely
thick and enduring work ; I will not say as
firm and close in surface as Arras tapestry,
but certainly at its finest not far ofT. The
work is usually executed in wool ; and,
indeed, in silk would necessitate a quite
extravagant use of this costly material,
which could be better displayed in other
ways.
In the old work mentioned above, these
stitches are sometimes used alone, through-
out the whole of an ample hanging ; in
other specimens they are employed together
with other and lighter stitches, often for the
sake of filling the surface more rapidly.
For instance, in one old hanging that I
know, a great bold leaf, about a foot long,
is outlined with long-and-short stitch, and
the veins done in the kindred feather-stitch ;
but the body of the leaf is filled with a
crabbed, loose stitch, similar to the looped
feather-stitch mentioned in the first chapter.
The whole piece of work is a wildly eccentric
43
Decorative Needlework.
assembly of different stitches, and has an
interesting individuality of its own, for
whoever worked it must have taxed her
invention to produce variety in a passing
spirit of impatience at the monotony or at
the dimensions of her work.
44
Decorative Needlework.
CHAPTER IV.
COUCHING AND APPLIQU£.
THE basis of the many elaborate
stitches which would be included
under the head of couching is,
as the name denotes, a laying down of
the threads covering the surface to be
filled in. Some writers on the subject
limit this name to work executed in
gold and silver threads, but I prefer to
give it a more general application, as it is
often executed in less costly materials.
Thus I should include the simple flat laying
of threads, either passed down and up
through the material or fastened at either
end and caught at regular intervals over
the surface thus formed (see diagram), and
also the raised and moulded work which
is built up of various thicknesses of soft
45
Decorative Needlework.
linen-thread or of cotton, or sometimes
string, and finally covered with closely-
^
Fig. 14. — FLAT COUCHING.
packed threads of gold ; that is to say, I
include the simplest form of this method of
work, and the most elaborate. This is a
particularly fascinating kind of embroidery,
46
Decorative Needlework.
as it allows of much play of colour and
invention and variety of stitching. Colour
may lie upon colour, and be caught down
with spots of yet another shade, and the
silks or gold, spread out flat and untwisted,
shine and show to their best advantage. A
network of one shade of colour over another
is often produced by employing this final
stitching in various diaper patterns over
the loose surface of silk or gold, such effects
being often very elaborately worked out.
The above diagram (Fig. 14), gives the
simplest possible way of using the stitch,
and one which is constantly seen in Oriental
and Italian hangings of the seventeenth
century. The design is filled in by long
threads stretching from side to side, either
passed underneath and up again, as in
satin-stitch, both sides similar, or the needle
going down and up again on the same side
as close as may be, the silk being thus all
on the surface. Next, threads are laid at
right angles to the direction of these lines,
are also passed from edge to edge, then
Decorative Needlework.
caught down at regular intervals by little
stitches placed alternately so that they form
lozenges or squares over the form which
is being worked upon. The usual method
of laying down the stitches in this form of
Fig.
15-
couching will be seen in Fig. 15. It will
be familiar to many who read this in the
old and modern Eastern embroidery we
see so much of nowadays. In the work
alluded to, the filling and the crossing lines
48
Decorative Needlework.
are usually all wrought with the same
colour. The surface thus produced is
admirable in its shining texture, but one
feels the want here and there of a little more
play of colour, to which all these couching
stitches are, as aforesaid, particularly
adapted.'
So far our work is very simple, though
care and attention will be needed to keep
the threads beautifully flat, and, if floss-silk
is used, to keep even the suspicion of a
twist from it ; care also in laying the cross-
ing threads at moderately even distances.
Variety can also be made by crossing the
threads lattice-wise, first one way and
then the other, and catching them down
with any little stitches that occur to the
worker. But the next stage of elaboration
will require more skill and attention, and,
being more valuable artistically, will repay
the extra trouble taken. Instead of
covering the design with threads laid
directly on the ground, it (the design) is
stuffed or raised to a certain height by one
E 49
Decorative Needlework.
or two or more layers of linen thread
loosely caught down at intervals, or even
by cotton wool, which would then, however,
have to be covered with a thin muslin to
keep it neat ; the work thus prepared is
then covered with its final layer of silk or
gold thread or what not. This moulded
and raised work is best adapted for appliqud
work, which is cut and ' applied ' to another
ground, of which more anon. It is a rather
stiff and formal method of work, unless
done on a large scale for bold decoration
to be seen at a distance. If executed on
a small scale, the materials should be chosen
very fine and pliable, and the work itself
be extremely minute and raised ; for we
never get with couched work that graceful
flow and sweep of one stitch on another
which those methods give us in which the
needle follows the curve and swing of the
design. The characteristics of couching
lie chiefly in richness of invention in the
stitching, and in beautiful colour and
materials. The diagram (Fig. 16) will
so
Decorative Needlework.
show how the stuffing threads lie, with the
sharply marked lines for indicating the
veins sewn on over them. These, again,
Fig. 1 6. — RAISED COUCHING.
are hidden by the threads pf silk or gold,
which must always be laid at right angles
Decorative Needlework.
to the direction of the last layer of stuffing.
The veins can be clearly defined by a line
of stitches either side, or can be left merely
indicated in the course of sewing down,
which will be enough if the vein line be
well accentuated.
This sufficiently characteristic method
of couching' will be guidance for other
varieties, and it will be borne in mind that
' gold couching ' is no special stitch which
has to be learnt anew, but simply couching
as described here, worked with gold thread
and cord, and only far more difficult to
master because of the stubborn nature of
the gold itself. There is some very pretty
work of the sixteenth century (Italian), in
which the ground is couched in long lines,
the leaves also couched flat, the flowers
worked in tapestry stitch following the
curves of the design, but outlined with a
very thick, close, raised thread, which
carries out the stiff character of the
couching. The stems are in raised work,
and some shields with the arms of the
52
Decorative Needlework.
owners of the work are introduced in very
thick raised gold, heraldry having been
always a favourite form of decoration in
needlework.
Precious stones, most frequently seed
pearls, are often used in rich couched work.
I have recently seen a very pretty richly-
designed and richly-worked glove that once
belonged to Henry VIII., on which are
portrayed the lion, the rose, and the crown.
The lion, a harmless and amiable looking
animal, though drawn as rampant along
the wrist of the glove, is thickly wrought
in gold, with a pearl eye, if my memory
serves me. The crowns are also gold, and
the roses highly embossed and laid thickly
over with a multitude of fine seed pearls.
There is a little old book with an em-
broidered cover in one of the museums
wherein is inserted in the place of honour
in the middle of the front board a large
flat garnet or ruby. The work is further
enriched by gold and pearls, but the
isolation of this pale pink stone gives quite
53
Decorative Needlework.
a peculiar value to the bit of needlework.
This is all by the way, however, and I do
not advise learners to tamper at all with
pearls and stones until they feel that they
have reached a stage of excellence which
renders their work capable of bearing the
weight and accentuation that such a striking
addition gives to needlework. Poor work
thus adorned looks yet poorer, and is
pretentious to no purpose.
It must be remembered that these and
other couched stitches, as well as applique,
are all admirably suited for decorating
materials which are to be displayed flat ;
and that for any textiles which are destined
to hang loosely in folds such work is
impracticable, unless, indeed, it is laid on
as a powdered pattern, scattered at inter-
vals over the surface of the cloth. For
small objects on which, owing to their size,
much work can be lavished, and which
usually need to be enduring and firm, the
stiffer forms of couching are peculiarly
suitable. It wears well, and gives scope
54
Decorative Needlework.
for great ingenuity and variety ; without
which, I need hardly say, a small piece of
work becomes insignificant, and merely a
toy of fashion for the moment.
I include under the name of applique, or
'applied1 work, every sort of embroidery
which, being worked solidly on one
material, is then cut out and laid down
upon another, and secured by various
ornamental stitches. This is rather a
rough-and-ready definition, and requires
amplification. Suppose, for instance, that
a certain material is to be ornamented by
having a group of flowers repeated over
the surface at regular intervals. The
group of flowers, or what not, is worked
on some stout "ground, such as Holland or
coarse linen ; when finished so far, the
work is cut out carefully, the scissors
following round the edge of the work
about a quarter of an inch or half an inch
away, according to the size and nature of
the work ; the work is then laid upon the
ground material, which is ready stretched
55
Decorative Needlework.
in a frame. When a spray is well in its
place, care being taken that every leaf
shall be duly laid and no curve pulled
the least out of 'shape, the raw edges are
secured by firm stitches, and the whole
design is edged with a gold thread, or a
twist of silk or wool, or with a gimp or
braid, according to the nature of the
materials which are being dealt with.
This method of work is, in fact, consider-
ably modified by the materials employed.
For a great bold wall-hanging in wools on
serge we should not show the same nicety
of finish that would be required for a
delicate piece of work in fine silk and gold
thread, to be laid on a choice bit of satin.
In the former, the cut edges would be
covered by the broad gimp or cord sur-
rounding the design, whereas in the finer
work the edges, wherever possible, must be
dexterously tucked away underneath ; for
the slim outline will not hide any uneven-
ness here, and nothing looks so clumsy
and ugly as a thick outline too heavy for
56
Decorative Needlework.
. — SUITABLE FOR APPLIQU£.
57
Decorative Ncci ilcwork.
the design. This turning-in of edges and
sewing down very neatly is the most
troublesome part of the work, and requires
deft fingers ; one has to be careful not to
cut too near the work, nor too deep into
the corners ; but the broader the margin
left, the more tiresome it is to turn in
neatly, especially if the design is small or
the least bit intricate. The design for
such work should be of the simplest and
broadest ; leaves should have a simple
outline, or if serrated the serrations can
be shown by two or three little stitches
within the outline. Compare, for instance,
Fig. 17 and Fig. 18, in which two different
forms of design are shown, the one, as I
take it, suitable for this work, and the
other unsuited to it. In Fig. 17 a con-
ventionalised bud and leaf are drawn
simply and even crudely, but drawn in a
way that suffices for our purpose. In Fig.
1 8, on the other hand, a chrysanthemum
with its deeply serrated leaf is drawn, also
conventionalised. There would be nothing
58
Decorative Needlework.
Fig. 18. — UNSUITABLE FUR APPLIQUB
59
Decorative Needlework.
elaborate or troublesome in this if worked
in some stitches ; but in the form of work
we are treating of now it would be almost
impossible to do neatly, and I do not
believe in trying to conquer impossibilities
when there is a straight and simple way
of doing what we want. Now, the very
fact that broad and simple forms are a
sine qua non in this method, makes the
work very well adapted for decoration that
is intended to catch the eye at a distance ;
but for richer work to be admired and
handled more elaboration will be wanted
in finishing. Flourishes and tendrils can
be added, or a whole back-ground pattern
introduced behind the solid applique
groups. This sort of ' tracery ' seems to
give a coherence to the heavier parts of
the design, and is very helpful in enriching
and lightening it.
Applique is not a stitch or series of
stitches, but a certain method of work,
irrespective of the stitches employed therein.
But certain stitches are more adapted than
60
Decorative Needlework.
others for working the groups and sprays
to be applied. The more solid stitches
will, of course, be used, and the various
sorts of raised couching, especially gold
couching, are perhaps the best for this
purpose, and the stiffer worked the better.
Botticelli, the Florentine artist, is said by
his historian, Vasari, to have been specially
fond of this work, and to have made designs
for it. Vasari, indeed, said that he in-
vented it, but I suspect this of being a flight
of the historian's imagination, which was
lively at times, and not likely to err on the
side of understating the case.
A simple form of applied work that is
far from costly so far as concerns time
and material, and yet effective, consists of
cutting out shapes in coloured cloth or silk,
and laying them directly on the material
to be ornamented, and then connecting the
whole with outlines and what veining and
marking of leaf and so forth the design
seems to require for its completion. Even
this simple work should be put into an
61
Decorative Needlework.
embroidery frame ; it is so much easier to
manipulate the work when both hands are
at liberty.
62
Decorative Needlework.
CHAPTER V.
PATCHWORK AND QUILTING.
THE laying down of one stuff on
another for decorative purposes
brings me to the mention of
patchwork, a time-honoured kind of
stitchery, familiar by name at least to
all of us. More time-honoured, indeed,
than one would think, for the patch-
work quilts which form a charming
and pathetic record of our grand-
mothers' girlhood and courtship, where we
affectionately admire the little scraps of
brocade ' worn the first night I danced with
your dear grandfather,' are but a survival
of, or speaking more strictly, a variation
from, a different sort of patchwork done in
very far-off times in distant Egypt, that
land where the arts of life were flourishing
^
Decorative Needlework.
exuberantly long before history even begins
for us of the Western world. Patchwork
is formed by piecing together bits of stuff
of chosen texture and colour, cut in various
shapes and neatly stitched together ; if the
shapes are at all complex, the fitting has
to be most precisely and accurately
managed, and forms the only really trouble-
some process of this sort of needlework.
In its simple form such work is easy
enough, but in the East it has been, and is
still, elaborately carried out, with intricate
design and beautiful colour. It is rather
difficult to give a clear idea of this curious
embroidery by mere description. You
must imagine a mosaic, as it were, but
instead of being made up of bits of marble
or of coloured glass, this mosaic is formed
of pieces of stuff of different colours, fitted
together into certain ornamental shapes
and finished with touches of colour in
embroidery stitches. Such patchwork dis-
tinctly comes into the category of things
artistic : while the quilts and such-like of
Decorative Needlework.
the last and the present centuries are only
pretty pieces of neat stitchery, in which an
elementary sense of geometric design and
colour yet remains in the sometimes-clever
arrangement of the different scraps of dress
stuff of which they are composed.
Quilting is done in different ways, but
generally speaking, it consists of placing a
thin layer of some soft yielding material,
such as cotton-wool, between the ground
to be worked on (be it thin silk, or fine
cotton, or linen) and a thin lining ; the
design is then worked in firm stitches, taken
right through to the reverse side. The
result isa slight relief, which gives a pleasant
effect. A cord is sometimes laid between
the two surfaces, and stitched down either
side, making a higher relief. Quilting can
be varied considerably, but this descrip-
tion will, I think, be enough to enable the
student to identify any different forms of
quilting that she may come across among
old or modern work.
Gold and Silver Thread. — It is usual to
F 65
Decorative Needlework.
introduce metal threads in the more elab-
orate kinds of needlework ; some work,
indeed, consisting entirely of gold. But
solid gold-work requires careful treatment
lest it become vulgarised, as it does
notably in some bad work of a late period.
I have said enough about it in Chapter
IV. to intimate that its use requires a
special knowledge and dexterity, as it is
difficult to handle, owing to its want of
flexibility. For all practical purposes there
are two kinds of thread now in general use,
(i) paper- gold and (2) tinsel-gold. (i.)
The paper-gold, which comes to us princi-
pally, if not entirely, from Japan, and is a
great favourite now, consists of gilded
strips of very fine tough paper, such as
the Japanese have the great art of making,
wound round a silken thread. It does not
tarnish, which is, of course, a great advan-
tage. (2) Tinsel-gold is very much more
brilliant and is made by the metal being
wire-drawn into a fine thread, which is
wound round coloured silk. Being really
66
Decorative Needlework.
silver, gilded more or less thickly, it
tarnishes readily in proportion to the
quality of the gilding, which determines
the value of the thread produced. Other-
wise it is pleasant to use, and is a good
firm material for solid work, with its
brilliance a little softened by appropriate
colours. I give its technical name, not
knowing how else to call it ; but the word
'tinsel,' gives a false impression of the
quality of this beautiful material, which
must by no means be classed along with
the tin-foil splendours which delight our
eyes at the pantomime on Boxing Night.
However, much beautiful and fine work
can be done with the paper-gold ; and the
ancient form of it, gilded vellum, namely,
very thin and finely cut into strips, and
wound round a thread, was universally
used in the most flourishing times of the
arts of figured stuff-weaving and em-
broidery. This, and the flat beaten gold,
forming a sort of gold ribbon, were cer-
tainly the forms of gold most used in
67
Decorative Needlework.
ancient times ; but ' it were enquiring too
curiously ' to enter here into the history of
the use of gold and silver in textiles and
embroideries, although it is so interesting
a subject of research that one is almost
tempted to do so. The first development
of wire-drawn gold would certainly be
from the delicate manipulation of flat gold
ribbon, rolling it with the hand into a
fragile wire, a lengthy and difficult opera-
tion, but surprisingly finely done in the
earliest times when machinery was not.
For indeed, though people talk about the
wonders of machinery, the patience and
dexterity of man's handiwork without the
help of any machine is far more wonderful.
I must repeat that gold and silver are
usually treated in some firm and stiff
manner in various couching stitches. It is
at once the most effective and the easiest
way of using these beautiful materials, but
skilful workers will introduce gold into
lighter needlework, threading and passing
it back and forth like a thread of silk,
68
Decorative Needlework.
Gold and silver so treated can be seen in
the muslin towels and cloths that come
over here from India, and from Turkey
and Bulgaria. The gold is passed through
the thin stuff, of sometimes gossamer
texture, with wonderful smoothness and
precision, and in its way, nothing daintier
can be imagined than this rich and heavy
decoration shining among the floating
folds of a light and delicate muslin. In
couched gold the metal is usually threaded
in a large-eyed needle, and occasionally
passed through the ground, but it has to
be very carefully laid down with minute
stitches of fine silk of different colours.
Silver thread is sometimes used also, but
the rapidity with which it tarnishes proves
a great drawback ; which is a pity, as it is
almost as beautiful as the gold. The
reader can refer to what I have written
about couching, which equally applies to
gold-work when used in this way ; though
with all the difference between a pliable
and a stubborn material. I should always
69
Decorative Needlework.
advise learners, ambitious of excelling
herein, to get some special instruction in
gold and silver needlework, as a little-
teaching by word of mouth would soon
dispel difficulties that appear to be very
discouraging at first.
70
Decorative Needlework.
CHAPTER VI.
SETTING TO WORK.
MOST people are familiar with the
aspect of an embroidery-frame,
or have some idea of what it
is like. It consists of two ' beams ' or
rollers (A) on which the textile is wound,
or to which it is merely attached by
being sewn to a piece of stout webbing
nailed to the wood, and two cross-sticks
(B) which complete the frame and do
the stretching, transversely by threads
passed through the material to be worked
on, and lengthways by means of pegs
or screws in the beams. This is the
ancient loom, simple and primitive, and
coeval with any sort of textile first woven
by the sons of Adam : two upright posts
stuck in the ground, and a beam above to
Decorative Needlework.
T T
e>
72
Fig. 19.
Decorative Needlework.
hold the warp-threads, and weights below
to keep all tight, or a second beam to hold
the finished web. Instead of working the
needle in and out of the woven stuff, the
weaver works his shuttle in and out of the
warp-threads, forming the web or woven
stuff itself; or, when the simple machine is
a little elaborated, shoots the shuttle
between the two sets of threads, which are
kept apart by a simple contrivance. The
old hand-loom can be seen figured in many
of the mediaeval manuscripts, where ladies
are drawn carding, spinning, weaving, and
embroidering, sitting in pretty gardens, the
blue sky overhead, with garlands or jewels
in their hair, and graceful gowns on their
bodies — a different picture from that pre-
sented by our latter-day weaving-sheds,
where every hour spent in the hot
exhausted air among the clatter and crash
of machinery is an undeserved penance to
the work-girls.
Our embroidery-frame is either supported
on a table or against a chair ; or, which is
73
Decorative Needlework.
far more convenient, is set in a stand on
the ground, an arrangement which steadies
the work, and leaves both hands free to ply
the needle. In preparing and stretching
framework great neatness and precision
should be observed from the outset. The
first little piece of carelessness is demoral-
ising, and leads to more ; and, indeed,
mistakes and disasters to the work may
arise from not straining it carefully in the
frame, quite straight and exact, the raw
edges cut even and hemmed or sewn to a
stout tape, through which to pass the
strings that are used to stretch the work.
Everything must be kept very clean (it
is impossible to be too particular in this
respect), and a thin cheap lining-muslin
should be procured to sew over the parts
of the work which are finished or not yet
started. The learner will soon notice that
if she gets into a careful, precise method
from the first, the difficulties of working will
the more readily be minimised, Silks, too,
must be carefully kept, the different shades
74
Decorative Needlework.
of one colour arranged together, the colours
being labelled for working at night, until
the worker is well practised in recognising
the different shades by artificial light.
Gold and silver should be kept from the
light as much as possible, and should be
cut off in lengths not over long, as the
metal thread easily spoils and breaks.
Floss-silk will want much nicety in keep-
ing, as well as in handling, for it gets
rough in a little while, not being twisted,
or only very slightly. Of such silks none
should be left lying about but what is
needed for present use, which must be
wound neatly on cards, if not on nice little
ivory or mother-of-pearl winders, which are
certainly a luxury, but good to have, as
they are smooth and clean, and keep the
silk fresh.
These observations are not so trivial as
perhaps they seem, and all tend towards
the one general axiom, ' Cleanliness and
neatness,' without which your work will be
naught. I have sometimes seen work,
75
Decorative Needlework.
which was allowed to lie about the room
between-whiles, gathering all the impurities
of smoke and dust ; the general dimness of
aspect of such work can be imagined, and
shows in itself bad workmanship. True
talent, like true genius, is never slovenly ;
for the acquiring of this quality of order
and care, on which I lay so much stress, is
part of the apprenticeship that every
worker with hand and eye must go
through, be it in workshop or studio, or
labouring alone and self-taught, towards
excellence in any art.
A few words more about setting to work
before we pass on to consider design and
the nature of materials used in embroidery.
I have said elsewhere that, in arranging
and starting a piece of work, you must
consider whether the stitches employed will
necessitate the use of a frame, and also
what stitches will look well in unison.
Some stitches are more quickly and better
done in the hand ; and as it is certainly-
tiring to sit a long while bending over a
76
Decorative Needlework,
frame, even to those who are used to it, it
is well to avoid the use of one for work
that can be done without it.
For instance, satin stitch is often worked
in a frame ; but when worked on ordinary
materials that are not very fine or likely
to pucker, it is equally well done, and much
more quickly, without stretching. For
darning, and for chain-stitch and other
looped stitches, I consider a frame out of
the question. When chain-stitch is worked
on a stretched material it is done with a
hooked needle, and called tambour work.
Tapestry, long and short, and feather-
stitches are practically all stitches for the
frame : as also, it goes almost without
saying, are couching, applique, and similar
methods of work. The rough division of
stitches into frame-work and non-frame-
luork is a kind of guide as to what stitches
to use together. But the learner will
do well to avoid a heterogeneous mix-
ture of stitches and had best confine herself
to the use of one or two. Variety and
77
Decorative Needlework.
effect are more honestly produced by good
design and careful colouring than by the
skilfullest admixture of stitches.
Decorative Needlework.
CHAPTER VII.
DESIGN, CONVENTION AND REALISM.
THE most important element in
successful work is the choice of
design, and I shall therefore be
obliged to linger a little over this subject,
as it is impossible to make a clear explan-
ation to those of my readers to whom the
subject may be entirely strange without a
good deal of enlargement of general axioms.
While inferior work can be tolerated for
the sake of the design, if that is good
(though the two rarely go together),
excellent work on a worthless design must
be cast aside as labour lost ; so that, you
see, design is the very soul and essence of
beautiful embroidery, as it is of every other
art, exalted or humble. It is enough to
break one's heart to see the labour and
79
Decorative Need leu >ork.
skill sometimes spent over would-be de-
corative ornament, that instead of being
full of beauty and intention, is more like
a heterogeneous collection of unmeaning
shapes, lacking form, which the designer
himself, if put to it, could as ill explain as
anyone else.
Having said this much, I must here say
what I mean by design worthy to be
wedded to good work. First we must
consider the nature of Design generally
and ask, for instance (a) Why the otherwise
blank surface of the wall of my study is
decorated by a patterned paper ; and (b]
Why this particular paper is chosen of
willow-boughs rather than roses or honey-
suckles, or any other growth ? (a) In the
first place, it is one of man's instincts to
beautify his life by whatever means are in his
power, and a wall-paper printed in colours
with some ornamental form is more pleasing
in his sight (as a make-shift, be it said, for
handsomer decoration, such as wood
panelling or woven hangings) than the
80
Decorative Needleivork.
bare blank surface of plain white or colour.
This is the instinctive pleasure in life (the
' ' joie de vivre ' in the comprehensive sense),
which makes life desirable, but which is too
often restrained or even altogether crushed
out of us by external circumstance. (6)
Again, the ornamented surface takes the
shape of willow-boughs on account of my
own especial fancy for them, and the
pleasant river-scenes they recall ; this con-
stitutes the personal element of taste or
fancy, and it is this individuality which
divides what is called ' original ' work from
that which is wanting in character and
vigour ; in a word, lifeless. Thus we have
the instinct, and the more or less developed
capacity of man to adorn his life, on the
one hand ; and on the other, the individual
taste which directs that capacity on to
this, that, or the other lines : Design
embodying these two elements, universal
and individual.
The application of decorative design
in connection with the minor arts or
G 81
Decorative Needlework.
handicrafts, as they are called, will obviously
be for the adornment of articles of daily
and of especial use. Every commonest
article of every-day use shows the remains
(machine-made now, of course) of what
was once put on by hand in the course of
making the article, by way of decoration,
such as the rim of blue or pink colour
round the edge of a penny plate, or the
star at the bottom of a beer-house tumbler.
As in embroidery we have only to do
with decorative design applied to flat
surfaces, and especially to textiles, I must,
in so large and interesting a subject, limit
myself to this particular branch. Given a
certain space, the aim of the designer is
to lay on it ornament, first, pleasing to the
eye, and next, suitable to the materials in
hand, and to the future use of the article
when finished. For the present we only
have to deal with the former pleasure-giving
quality. Now, the modern tendency (a
reaction, doubtless, from the Renaissance
conventionality which has so long held its
82
Deco raiivc Needlework.
ground) is to copy some spray or bough
directly from nature, and to lay it down
haphazard on the surface to be ornamented;
a few stray petals or a broken leaf and a
caterpillar being peppered about elsewhere
without rhyme or reason ; this is then
called a ' quaint ' design. When I tell you
that symmetry, order, and balance are
above all things essential, and that no
attempted copying of the painter's art
(for that is what it amounts to) in such
dissimilar and insufficient materials is
permissible, you will understand that the
' quaint ' design is wrong in the very
nature of it. The given space must be
filled by forms in certain rhythmical
sequence, which may either be masked or
plainly marked.
In designing for reproduction by me-
chanical means the various forms are
arranged so as to be repeated in regular
order ; but for our purpose, repetition of
a design should be sparingly resorted to,
and principally for large surfaces ; for the
Decorative Needlework.
great charm of embroidery lies in its rich-
ness and diversity of invention, within
certain well-understood limits.
You will have often heard the words
convention and conventional used as opposed
to naturalistic forms in a decorative design.
Now, the first thing the designer will do is
to go to natural growths and animal life,
and show his pleasure in them by studying
their infinite variety and beauty, and
introducing them into his work. These
studies should be constantly and faithfully
made, until the artist has familiarised
himself with all possible peculiarities and
diversities of such things. But his own
work should merely recall nature, not
absolutely copy it ; the living flower should
inspire a living ornament in his brain,
certain characteristics being dwelt upon,
but the forms all simplified, leaves flatly
arranged, stems bent into flowing curves
to fill the required spaces.
Whatever growth is chosen as a model
will thus be /r-presented by the draughts-
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Decorative Needlework.
man's hand, but translated, as it were, and
serving the purpose of giving delight
almost as well as when growing in the
fields : in exchange for the subtle, uncon-
Fig. 20.
Decorative Needlework.
scious and untranslatable beauty of nature,
\ve get the charm of conscious art ; the
artist exacting service from nature, and
obtaining it, graciously and ungrudgingly
given just in so far as it is lovingly and
frankly asked for. Here is (Fig. 20) a
sketch of a rose-bud, conventionalised a
great deal, as you will notice ; as a likeness
of the rose-bud it is too rough to be worth
much, but quite sufficiently recalls the real
thing for the purposes of needlework. It
was not drawn without careful considera-
tion of a live rose-bud, all the little nicks
in whose leaves, and twirls of whose
tendrils were admiringly noted, but not
reproduced in this sketch.
Thus much of Convention, then, as an
essential of decorative design. Next I
would ask you, when you have a design for
flat decoration in your hands, or are
yourself designing, to consider carefully
whether it fulfils its first purpose of well
and symmetrically covering a certain de-
fined space ? If this space is not so filled,
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Decorative Needlework.
the would-be design must be rejected as
not fulfilling its function. The following
sketches (Figs. 21 and 22) may roughly
Fig. 21.
supplement this. Given a square space to
be ornamented simply, two ways of doing
so are shown ; In the one (Fig. 2 1) a spray
Decorative Needlework.
is ' gracefully and negligently,' as a fashion-
paper would say, laid in one corner, a leaf
or two stuck on somewhere else, no matter
where. The spray is inoffensive in itself,
Fig. 22.
but however beautifully and carefully it
io-fit be drawn, there is no form or
• i • • r
mi
symmetry in the grouping ; in fact, no
88
Decorative Needlework.
thought. Next we have a square (Fig. 22)
with rosettes at the four corners, little spots
running along the edge forming a border,
and a circle in the middle, with more spots
round it, forming a centre rosette. The
whole is a mere grouping of spots big and
little, symmetrically arranged, simply, but
sufficiently decorative, when compared with
Fig. 21.
However, having warned you against
the dangers of so-called ' naturalism,' I
must point out that conventionalism in the
extreme brings us to an equally unsatisfac-
tory result ; that is, when natural objects
are so changed as to become either
grotesque or meaningless. In fact, a 'con-
ventional ' design in common talk means
something of this sort; that is, form which
has now no true relation to natural growth.
It would be of service to us here, as an
illustration, if we could compare the con-
vention of, say, the design of a fourteenth
century embroidered cope (of no more than
ordinary beauty, but good of its style)
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Decorative Needlework.
with the design of some late Renaissance
quilt or hanging, or what not.
In the earlier work we have the conven-
tion which compels natural objects into a
certain subjection without losing sight of
their character, and without robbing them
of their grace. In the later work — and I
am careful to speak of late Renaissance, as
the early style has a beauty and delicacy
all its own — we have the convention which
has forgotten all about nature, or thinks to
improve upon it, spinning ideas out of itself
like a silkworm. It is almost unnecessary
to say that with this exhaustive method
the supply of ideas soon gives out, and we
have strange and extravagant forms, at
once luxuriant and weak in line, and poor
in fancy — conventional indeed, and nothing
besides.
The deduction from this is, therefore,
not to draw a line you do not understand
and cannot explain to yourself. Be definite
before everything — let every form you put
on paper be something, explain something.
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Decorative Needlework.
Some of the natural forms most dear to
the designer as models are so intricate that
the explanatory and strictly conventional
method is the only method of representing
them at all. Look, for instance, at the
numerous drawings by the ancient Egypt-
ian artists of papyrus beds, executed with
extreme simplicity, and almost amounting
to mere shorthand notes of the real thing,
but none the less beautiful in their way.
Decorative Needlework.
CHAPTER VIII.
CONTRAST AND REPETITION.
TO get a harmonious design we
must study and consider well of
what qualities such a design
should be built up. The subordination
of one form to another in some way
is essential ; there must be some leading
lines and forms, that, from their central
position or broader massing, attract the
eye more than others. In the sprig
(Fig. 23), which composes the powdered
pattern indicated in Fig 24, the flower is the
central point of attraction, the leaves and
stems being subordinate to it. The forms
of which a design is made should fall into
their places naturally and without effort.
On looking at some unskilful decorative
work, every line seems to clash with
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Decorative Needlework.
another, the design being restless, and ' all
on end/ lacking that breadth and repose
Fig. 23.
which characterises good work. The danger
of insipidity and dulness that a ' quiet '
design may fall into must be avoided by
93
Decorative Needlework.
contrast, the subordination of one part to
another, spoken of above. Such contrast
may be obtained in various ways ; for
instance, by opposing delicate tracery or
smaller forms to the principal masses of
striking or broad forms, such opposition
presenting a rich and pleasing variety to
the eye. This contrast implies a certain
complexity of design, which is not always
necessary or suitable, but it certainly
greatly enhances the richness of the inten-
ded decoration.
After thinking over this point, and
writing thus far, I turned to Ruskin's
' Elements of Drawing ' to see what his
word to the beginner is on the subject of
Composition and Design. I find here said
so exactly what is wanted on many points,
that I hope those who wish to pursue the
subject will look up this volume, which
contains much food for thought throughout
its pages. Many of the observations apply
as much to the decorative as to the higher
pictorial arts, and I am tempted to quote
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Decorative Needlework.
the master's words on the ' Law of Con-
trast/ which, giving as they do the true
ethical meaning of this law in a few clear
and simple words, should be helpful to you.
He says: 'Of course the character of
everything is best manifested by Contrast.
Rest can only be enjoyed after labour ;
sound, to be heard clearly, must rise out
of silence ; light is exhibited by darkness,
darkness by light ; and so on in all things.
Now in art every colour has an opponent
colour, which, if brought near it, will
relieve it more completely than any other ;
so, also, every form and line may be made
more striking to the eye by an opponent
form or line near them ; a curved line is
set off by a straight one, a massive form
by a slight one, and so on ; and in all good
work nearly double the value, which
any given colour or form would have
uncombined, is given to each by contrast.'
The next paragraph contains a warning
against vulgar exaggeration in the use of
this artifice.
95
Decorative Needlework.
The value of repetition in decoration on
large surfaces will easily be seen, but it is
further needed in the different parts of
the design itself, as, for instance, the
repetition of petal against petal, leaf beside
leaf. Symmetry goes hand in hand with
this, leaf balancing leaf on the opposite
sides of the stem. There is also that more
subtle repetition found in elaborate design,
of one form ' echoing ' another, without
exactly repeating it. This, however, will
be better understood after studying good
ornamental work closely, and carefully
considering its composition.
A glance at the diagram (Fig. 24) will
give some idea of the nature of these laws
of repetition, balance, and so forth, that
govern design. The diagram represents
the simplest possible expression of a
' powdered pattern,' that is, of a design
dotted or powdered over the surface at
regular intervals. In the little sprigs we
have repetition, and in so far as they
alternate in position in alternate rows we
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Decorative Needlework.
have symmetry, and symmetry and balance
also in the individual sprig, the leaves of
0
Fig. 24.
which lie opposed each side of the stem ;
in the rosettes or groups of dots between
the sprigs, as well as in the construction
of the sprigs themselves, we have contrast
or subordination.
I have sufficiently enlarged elsewhere
on Convention and Realism, or truth to
H 97
Decorative Needlework.
nature ; I will therefore only again remind
you, and very earnestly, not to note care-
lessly one-half of my observations on this
important point without due consideration
of the other half, the one assertion being
incomplete without the other. Man's
instinct is creative as much as imitative,
and the very convention he adopts, deter-
mined by his own personality, is nothing
but a re-presentation based on observation
of and fidelity to nature.
98
Decorative Needlework.
CHAPTER IX.
LINES AND CURVES.
IN considering the different elements
of Design, a little talk about the
value and qualities of lines will
clear up a good many difficulties for
the beginner. Remember well this : a
beautiful curve has variety in every
inch of it ; that is to say, it changes
its direction constantly. Look at Fig. 25,
which at A shows a curve which is the
segment of a circle. A true circle being-
drawn mechanically with a compass from a
fixed centre, every portion of its line is
regular and equal in value to every other
portion. Such a curve in its mechanical
perfection, therefore, is unsatisfactory to
the designer's eye, and its unconscious, as
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Decorative Needlework.
well as conscious, adoption should be
vigilantly guarded against. At B, on the
contrary, we have a pleasing curve, very
B
Fig- 25.
familiar to anyone who notes the poise of
a flower-stem or the swing of a tree-branch.
Look at it and compare it with A, and you
will see what is meant by variety in a curve,
100
Decorative Needlework.
At C, the outline of a full spring-bud, we
have a still more varied line.
Nothing could be better as studies for
simple and complex curves than careful
copying of a single leaf from each of the
different plants and trees which may be
accessible to you. Note the difference
between the exquisite crispness of outline
in the beech-leaf and the delicate simplicity
of the slim vvillowr-leaf ; or again, the rich
variety of line in the serrated vine-leaf.
There is another thing to remember about
curves : every curved line is stronger at
its base or attachment than at its apex ;
the further from the base, the more delicate,
and finally the more weak it grows. A
curve, therefore, wrhich is prolonged beyond
a certain point loses its strength, its
expression of poising and balance, and
the indecision that results is extremely
unpleasing. In Fig. 26 curve A is right ;
continue it a little, and we get B, which
reminds one of the woefully weak lines of
a bad wall-paper. If a prolonged curve is
101
Decorative Needlework.
wanted for some definite purpose, it should
contain an actual repetition of direction as
at C.
Fig. 26.
In planning out and starting a design,
always work from a centre, both for the
detail and in the composition itself. For
instance, if you are bringing a rose into
your work, fix in your eye a certain central
point, and let the petals converge towards
102
Decorative Needlework.
it ; the same in drawing a leaf (such a
complex leaf as at B, Fig. 27). Without
some such definite order the petals of the
flower, or the parts of the leaf, will lie at
all sorts of odd angles, and you will be
puzzled, and unable to tell exactly where
and how they are wrong.
Designs differ considerably in form
and method : some are worked entirely
from a centre, while others are more
flowing, and may have a central form, but
not set or strongly marked. But in all
ornamental design, whatever the construc-
tion, the details themselves must have this
definite centre, which gives unity and
coherence, be it masked or revealed. The
law of radiation is, in fact, all-pervading
in design. In the little branch (A), in the
diagram, the stem itself, roughly speaking,
constitutes the centre, whence the leaf-
stalks radiate and fall outwards with just
that amount of irregularity, or, more
strictly speaking (for nothing is wholly
irregular in design), that amount of varia-
Decorative Needlework.
tion that will be felt and made use of as
the student grows more familiar with the
designer's art.
Fig. 27.
I think with these notes on the formation
of design, the student should now have
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Decorative Needlework.
some inkling as to what to study among
the examples of fine ornament in our
museums, or from coloured plates of the
same, which can be easily obtained. It
will be easier now, I hope, to recognise the
qualities, good or bad, of such work, and
from study to practice should be but a
short step.
In always recommending ancient rather
than modern work for study, I do so with
intent; for, in mediaeval ornament, whether
in an illuminated manuscript or a figured
stuff, or embroidered cloth, one is always
sure that though the interest of detail and
beauty of form may vary very much, the
work is not lacking in the essential qualities
of good design, and is thorough in its way,
and executed with due knowledge of
material and with due skill of hand. In
modern decorative work the estrangement
between designer and executant generally
creates a want of unity and coherence in
the work produced. On the one hand, the
designer frequently has no full knowledge
105
Decorative Needlework.
of the materials and tools employed, and
his drawings, made independently of such
things, lose force or delicacy in the
execution ; while on the other hand, the
craftsman loses the knowledge he formerly
possessed of the value of lines and masses,
as he is no longer, as a rule, called upon
to think and create his work — a disastrous
division of labour, with disastrous results,
1 06
Decorative Needlework.
CHAPTER X.
COLOURS AND COLOURING.
CLEAR and beautiful colouring,
sometimes complex, sometimes
simple, is one of the principal
features of fine embroidery. Some people
are by nature more of colourists than
others, and often hit upon the right method
of work, while they would be puzzled if
you were to ask them to explain the why
and wherefore of it ; but with others it is
a matter of education, and a few general
precepts founded on observation may be
given for the benefit of those who are still
feeling their way.
To the entirely uneducated eye (speaking
with regard to colour) blue is blue, red is
red, green, green, and so forth, every colour
being positive, and there being no idea in
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Decorative Needlework.
the person's mind of the relation of one
colour to another. But after a little obser-
vation and experiment you will find that
beside their positive value, colours have a
relative value of which you have never
dreamed hitherto : a colour that is in itself
beautiful may become absolutely atrocious
by awkward handling, being placed, for
example, beside some other shade that is
its natural enemy.
Of the colours principally used for
embroidery, blue is one of the pleasantest
to have constantly under one's eye ; but
personal idiosyncracies play an important
part in colouring, and one person may
declare against a generally admired colour
without being able to explain the reason,
though perhaps his doctor or his oculist
could do so. Of blue choose those shades
that have the pure, slightly grey, tone of
indigo dye (varying somewhat, of course,
on different materials). The quality of
this colour is singularly beautiful, and not
easy to describe except by negatives : it is
1 08
Decorative Needlework.
neither slatey, nor too hot, nor too cold,
nor does it lean to that unutterably coarse
green-blue, libellously called ' peacock '
blue ; it has different tones — brilliant some-
times, and sometimes quiet — reminding
one now of the grey-blue of a distant
landscape, and now of the intense blue of
a midday summer sky — if anything can
resemble that.
Pure blues, such as I am attempting to
describe, are to be seen in the Chinese
silks and satins, which are familiar now to
most of us, sometimes very pale, and
sometimes almost black in their intensity,
but always full and brilliant. The modifi-
cations of this blue to purple and
grey-purple on the one side, and to green-
blue on the other, are also useful colours,
being chosen and employed with care.
Of reds, we have first a pure central red,
between crimson and scarlet (for in the pure
colour neither blue nor yellow should
predominate), but this is a difficult shade
to use ; by far the most useful are those
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^ Decorative Needlework.
•
' impure ' shades which are modified by
yellow, as, for instance, flesh-pink, salmon,
orange, and scarlet ; or by blue, as rose-
pink, blood-red, and deep purple-red. The
more delicate of such shades can be freely
used where a central red, overpowering in
its intensity, cannot. A warning, however,
against abuse of warm orange and scarlet,
which colours are the more valuable the
more sparingly employed, and as dainty
little spots of colour treasures indeed.
The most valuable colour next to blue
is green, or, rather, equally valuable in its
different way, being to some people more
restful to the eye and brain. This being
so, it is curious to remark how very rarely
a good full green, neither muddy or coarse,
is offered to the public. It is important
for you to understand the different qualities
of the various shades of green necessary
for your work ; for, if you are told, or if you
feel that such and such is an intrinsically
admirable colour, you may perhaps through
sheer enthusiasm try to use it where it
no
Decorative Needlework.
should not be used, or employ a certain
shade in large masses that should be
soberly dealt with, and so forth.
Here, again, we see the force of the
positive and relative value of colours : a
cold, strong green, not in itself very
pleasing, placed against a clear brilliant
yellow, gathers depth and force which it
would otherwise lack ; a blue-green may
strike the right note in a certain place, but
if its use be exaggerated may blemish all.
Now, there are certain greens which are
brilliant and rich, and, when employed
broken with other colours, produce a fine
effect ; but when a green is to be largely
used, it should be chosen of a greyer,
soberer shade, such as the eye rests on
without fatigue. Avoid like poison the
yellowish-brown green of a sickly hue that
professes to be ' artistic,' and looks like
nothing but corruption, and avoid also a
hard metallic green, which, after all, would
not easily seduce a novice, as it is very
obtrusive in its unloveliness.
1 1 1
Decorative Needlework.
For your embroidery-palette certain
definite sets of green will be necessary ;
full, pure yellow-green, greyish-green, and
blue-green, two or three shades of each.
The brilliant pure green that we admire in
a single spring leaf is impossible to use in
large masses, nor does Nature, whose all-
pervading colour is green, give us these
acute notes in unbroken mass. You have
only to look at the effect of light and shade
in a tree in full spring foliage, with the
browns and greys of its twigs, to realise
this fact : the great masses of green
meadow-land, besides showing a variety
of colour that may be overlooked in a
careless glance, have a tenderness of tone
that is quite beyond and above any possible
imitation in art.
For a central yellow choose a clear, full
colour that is neither sickly and greenish,
nor inclined to red and hot in tone. Of
impure yellows, pale orange and a warm
pinkish shade that inclines to copper are
useful, besides the buff and brownish shades
112
Decorative Needlework.
that will sometimes be wanted for special
purposes. These, I think, include all the
yellow shades that you need trouble about.
A certain experience is wanted for the
successful use of yellow, so that those who
take a special delight in the intrinsic beauty
of this fine colour will do well to avoid too
enthusiastic an introduction of it into their
work.
Of course, different colours and different
dye-stuffs are affected by different materials.
This is eminently the case with yellow :
on wool, which absorbs the light, a large
unbroken mass of yellow is positively
forbidding ; while in silk, with its lights
and reflections that serve to break the
colour, it is another matter.
Purple again is one of the ' difficult '
colours with which we must, as it were, hit
upon the exactly right tones to use. There
are two valuable purples — a rather full
red-purple, tending to russet, and a dusky
grey-purple, which is, if the right tone is
obtained, a very beautiful, and, if I may
\ U3
Decorative Needlework.
say so, poetic colour. Perhaps such colours
belong more to the artist's palette than to
the embroideress's set of wools or silks,
but it seems to me there ought to be little
difficulty in getting all manner of strange
and charming shades out of the dyer's vat,
if the dyer of commerce had the enthusiasm
of his art.
Harmony, contrast, and repetition — all
these laws that we have glanced at with
regard to form have the same application
to colouring. In arranging your work, you
should have in your mind a definite scheme
J
of colour, as simple as possible at first, and
consisting, perhaps, merely of one predom-
inating colour with a few touches of another
for a relief. When a little more experienced,
you should still have some dominating
colour or shades of a colour, among which
contrasting tones are placed, bringing out
the relative values according to your skill
or instinct in choosing.
For elaborate and costly work, it is
obvious that gold and silver will form an
114
Decorative Needlework.
important factor in the scheme of colour
but here again it must be noted thatmetals,
if employed in great masses, highly raised
and without due relief and softening by
colours, are apt to look hard and a trifle
— sometimes more than a trifle— vulgar.
For example, compare a late French or
Spanish vestment of the richest description
with one of the same kind made in one of
the best periods of this art. Both are
equally lavish in materials and work-
manship ; the modern is probably a mass
of thick padded and corded gold, sewn down
with yellow or white silk on a rich white
ground. While labouring by this piling
up of metal to get all the effect of splendour
he possibly can out of his materials, the
craftsman has produced a piece of work
smart enough for theatrical effect, or for a
piece of pageantry, but giving no idea of
splendid and sumptuous beauty, such as
the faithful of all times have been desirous
of surrounding their religion with, accord-
ing to their abilities. But, on the other
Decorative Needlework.
hand, a similar work of art, wrought in a
more spontaneous and genuine period,
with similar aims, that is, to be a fit offering
to a favourite saint, in whose benevolent
personality the craftsman had a genuine
belief, would have shown less vaunting of
costly material— though none were stinted ;
but the cunning with which rich and
brilliant colours were interwoven with gold
would leave an impression on the eye of
subtlety and fantasy that is one of the
charms of the art.
Some such work that I have in my mind
has a flat, golden background, the surface
broken by being worked in a simple
zig-zag or waved pattern, needing far more
' technique ' and delicacy than the lumpy
gold of the late French or Spanish cited
above. On this gold background will be
placed subject groups from the lives of
the Saints, perhaps, or rich and fanciful
ornament and foliage, wrought finely and
laboriously with silk, with more gold, and
possibly with little pearls and other precious
116
Decorative Needlework.
stones. You don't want to have your high
priest look as if he were cut out of tin-foil,
but clotlicd in changeful folds that shine as
he moves, and take lights and shadows on
them like those of precious stones them-
selves.
Such work, with its quality of mystery,
had a living splendour, and was indeed
' fit for kings' treasuries/ as the simple
saying has it, or as we might say now-
adays, fit to gladden the eyes of all who
believe that everything beautiful that is
made serves its due purpose in enriching
the treasury of the world.
I had no intention of raising the question
here whether kings' treasuries or the
treasury of humanity itself should have the
privilege of possessing beautiful things,
and. what is more, the power of enjoying
them ; but a belief in the power of beauty
is a wholesome thing, and I make no
apology for preaching it by the way. As
an art, therefore, that should help to
decorate home life very largely, and public
117
Decorative Needlework.
life too, as regards religious buildings,
public halls on festive occasions, and so
forth, embroidery deserves to be taken
seriously, especially the higher branch of
it, which includes intricate colour and work
in gold and precious stones, such as that
of which I have been speaking.
It is not easy to give much advice about
method in colouring, as I suppose every one
has his or her own pet way of setting to
work. The colouring of your design can
be treated as dark on a light ground, that
is, using principally dark colours on a
light ground ; or, as light upon dark, using
light colours on a dark ground— a more
effective and more difficult treatment ; or
by placing colour upon colour, forming, as
it were, a mosaic of colours of more or less
equal tone. This last is an elaborate but
very beautiful method, in which Eastern
artists have always excelled. A few hints
as to grouping of colours to guard against
fundamental errors will be all that is
possible to touch upon here.
118
Decorative Needlework.
As aforesaid, start with the simplest
possible scheme of colour while you are
feeling your way, and when you launch
out into combinations of two or three
colours, let one predominate, the others
being rhythmically disposed to emphasise
the leading tone. When you feel you can
come to bolder contrasts, avoid placing a
blue directly against a green of nearly the
same tone ; if blue and green are mixed,
the blue must be very light against a dark
green, or the reverse. Again, red and
yellow, if both vivid, will need a soften ing-
line to separate them, though a pale yellow
with a clear, pure, rather delicate scarlet is
by no means a displeasing arrangement ;
or again, a full, clear yellow with a very
pale brick-red.
Red and green must be carefully chosen,
and softened by an outline ; avoid much
use of any cold green, especially avoid
placing it against a misty blue, for the
indecision and muddled effect of this
arrangement is the reverse of pleasant.
119
Decorative Needlework.
Brown must be carefully chosen, warm
in tint, but not hot ; a little of it will be
necessary in figure-work, but for merely
floral design a decided brown need be
seldom used. Black also has distinct value
in certain sorts of work, but the use of it
should be left to an experienced hand.
In handling colours, you must bear in
mind the retiring quality of some and the
assertive quality of others, but do not
emphasise these qualities too much. Your
work should, on the whole, be very flat and
quiet in general character, though as bright
as you can get it in the individual tones.
As in design, avoid confusion and indis-
tinctness of detail. The mystery and
reticence spoken of with regard to work of
the highest order is quite another quality,
and one with which we have little to
do here, beyond teaching ourselves to
recognise and appreciate it. Make no
attempt to grope after ' startling novelties/
but try for pure, clear tones. When people
say they like 'soft, quiet colouring' in
1 20
Decorative Needlework.
textiles and embroidery, it is an unconscious
tribute to harmonious colouring, for the
colours themselves, if excellent in quality,
can hardly be too brilliant ; if they appear
so, it is the craftsVnan who is at fault.
In conclusion, I will ask leave to remind
you that though there are the two aspects
of embroidery, the one in which it is
•/ •
accepted as one of the lesser arts, having
its clue place in history and in our lives,
and the other in which it serves as an
occupation for an idle hour, yet in both
cases it is worth nothing if not pursued
with clue method and soberness, and carried
out in a workmanlike way.
121
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